Nicene Kossentini inaugurates /A.R.I.A/'s artist-in-residence programme in Algiers
Published18 Jun 2012
We are thrilled to announce that Nicene Kossentini has been selected as the first artist-in-residence for /A.R.I.A/ Artist Residency in Algiers, a new residency program in Algiers founded by international artist Zineb Sedira. Usually based in Tunis, photographer and filmmaker Nicene will relocate to the Algerian capital from 22nd May to 26th June 2012.
Nicene Kossentini on her residency project:
"My surname literally means "from Constantine" (name of an Algerian city). I unfortunately don't hold any other tangible link [to this city] than this very remote origin of a name handed down from father to son. But I have always believed that there were other invisible links that bind me to Algeria."Therefore, during my residency in Algiers, I plan to develop a project which questions notions of identity, genealogy and transmission through
photographic portraits of anonymous people that I met in Algiers and with whom I will invent imaginary links.
Artist Residency in Algiers (/A.R.I.A/) was founded by artist Zineb Sedira. Starting its one-year pilot programme in 2012, /A.R.I.A/ will host two artists-in-residence (Nicene Kossentini and Alfredo Jaar) and a visual artist based in Gaza in partnership with Art School Palestine.
The programme aims at building cross-border dialogues and to create an ongoing dynamic network across diverse international art communities within and beyond Algeria. It provides opportunities for emerging and established artists from North Africa and across the world to conduct artistic and cultural research and production./A.R.I.A/ hosts resident artists and connects them with local and regional networks to facilitate the development of ideas related to the Algerian context. This programme aspires to project a positive awareness and visibility of Algeria and its surroundings to global audiences.
Nicene Kossentini was born in Sfax and currently lives and works in Tunis (Tunisia). She graduated from the Institut Supérieur des Beaux-Arts in Tunis and the Université Marc Bloch in Strasbourg (France). She also attended courses and training at the Studio National des Arts Contemporains Le Fresnoy and at Ecole de l'Image Les Gobelins (France). Kossentini is currently Assistant Professor of Experimental Cinema at University of Tunis. She has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Tunisia, Europe and Africa.
For further press information and to request images
please contact:
/A.R.I.A/ Artist Residency In Algiers
Founder and Director: Zineb Sedira
Co-ordinator: Yasmina Reggad
T: +44 (0) 2077335552
W: www.ariaresidencyalgiers.wordpress.com
Nicene Kossentini